


NDAs

by gladdecease



Category: Nodame Cantabile, Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Community: fandom_stocking, Crossover, Gen, Language Barrier, Multilingual Characters, Post-Series, Secret Organizations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-26
Updated: 2013-12-26
Packaged: 2018-01-06 05:00:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1102705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gladdecease/pseuds/gladdecease
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I panicked!  She turned my cufflinks into a rave without even <em>trying</em>, what was I <em>supposed</em> to do?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	NDAs

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cantarina](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cantarina/gifts).
  * Inspired by [ATA+](https://archiveofourown.org/works/317019) by [gladdecease](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gladdecease/pseuds/gladdecease). 



> A sequel to ATA+ - if this story ends up extending beyond these two parts, which it very well might, I'm gonna take off that "inspired by" link and turn this into a series proper. For now, happy fandom_stocking, cantarina!

" _Really_ , Rodney?"

If there's one look John Sheppard has down pat, one that Rodney is more familiar with than he'd like, it's his unimpressed face. It's part disappointed, part "tired of your shit", as is the Internet vernacular these days, and (most importantly, for the continuation of their friendship) part "amused despite himself", and the overall impression is that he's two seconds from a headache or laughing fit, depending on how Rodney responds.

So, keeping in mind the twenty-something Japanese woman standing behind him, presumably oohing and aahing in her native language over the Ancient tech reacting to her like a flower to the sun, he decides that the old saying about honesty is going to hold true here.

"I panicked! She turned my cufflinks into a rave without even _trying_ , what was I _supposed_ to do?"

John remains unimpressed. "I don't know, say it did that on its own? Or hey, here's a thought: _don't wear Ancient tech out in public_."

Rodney wilts. This isn't going according to plan at all. "Yes, well... it's a bit late for that. And as I already said, I panicked."

"I can see that," John says, eying Rodney's guest warily. Nodame, or Megumi, or whatever her name is, grabs Rodney's arm and asks him a question - in Japanese, which really isn't going to get them anywhere. And she keeps calling him Henna Mado-something, no matter how many times he tells her to call him McKay. He wishes desperately that her conductor boyfriend had come with them, but he'd had a conflict and claimed she was very good with other languages when she put her mind to it. Ha.

"Look, I panicked, I told them a little more than I should have - not that I think she understands it, the language barrier here is a little absurd - and I just need to get my hands on some non-disclosure agreements for them to sign, and we can put this all behind us." Trying to look sympathetic - though pathetic will do in a pinch - Rodney begs, "Please, can you talk to Woolsey for me? He likes you better than me, he'll listen."

"変な魔導師さん," she whines again, tugging at Rodney's arm and pointing at something on his desk that... huh. That not even Sheppard has gotten to light up before, actually. That's interesting. "それは何ー"

Coming out of nowhere, Ronon says, "彼分からん. 誰も分からん." Rodney stares, and isn't the only one.

"Uh... Ronon?"

"Since when do you speak Japanese?" Rodney wants to know.

"Since when do you let women call you a funny wizard?" he returns, raising an eyebrow at Rodney, who sputters.

"I - is _that_ what she's been calling me?" he demands. Turning to Megumi, he says, slowly, "I told you, it's not superpowers. _Or_ magic!"

Ignoring him, she continues to stare at Ronon. "うわぁ〜、背が高いぃ〜" she says dreamily.

Ronon looks down at himself. "あぁ、そう."

John's face is a little pinched - this has gotta be as weird for him to watch as it is for Rodney. "Is this a... gate-related language thing?" he asks Ronon, who shrugs.

"She sounds the same to me as you two do."

"Well, unless you want to translate all our English-language documents for her, that's not going to be very helpful," Rodney mutters. Megumi keeps saying things to Ronon, using no words Rodney even remotely understands, full of long vowels and exclamations that sound like utter nonsense. Ronon's replies don't make any sense to Rodney, but it still _sounds_ like Ronon: short, clipped, direct and (presumably) straight to the point. An idea pops into Rodney's head as he's watching them, and he snaps his fingers as he tries to recall who's still nearby. "Miko! _She_ could explain the NDAs to Megumi."

"She could," John says agreeably, "if she weren't working on repairs of the Midway Station for the next two months."

Rodney sighs. He'd known he'd forgotten something.

"She knows a couple other Earth languages," Ronon takes this moment to announce. "Either of you speak ドイツ語 or フランス語?"

Rodney blinks. "I... don't think that translated properly."

John, though, is nodding. "German and French, right?"

"That's what I said."

John smirks, and turns an expectant eye on Rodney.

"Oh, what, just because I'm Canadian you expect me to remember my high school French any better than yours?"

"I took Latin," John says, not quite bragging and entirely ignoring Rodney's point.

Sighing, Rodney says, "Fine, fine, I'll give it a try. Megumi," he says, grabbing her attention.

She smiles. "うん?"

" _Tu_ parles français?" he asks, and can't help the shade of disbelief in the pronoun.

She grins, clapping her hands in delight. "Oui, sorcier bizarre!" Her accent is almost impeccably Parisian; the boyfriend must not have been exaggerating after all.

Communication established, Rodney promptly tunes out the stream of questions that he can't understand any better now that they're in a half-familiar language. He turns a hopeful look on John, who sighs and rolls his eyes.

" _Fine_ , I'll get some civilian NDAs from Woolsey for you."

"You're a saint!" Rodney calls after him. "I owe you, like, three weeks of pudding cups!" John waves an agreeable hand at him without looking back. When Rodney turns his attention back on Megumi, it's to find that his silence hasn't deterred her at all; she's still asking questions about "the song she hears from the things that light up" and "her magical destiny" and god, how has he not gotten it across to her that Ancient technology is the _furthest_ thing from magic? Despairing of this reaction from what is possibly the strongest presentation of the ATA gene he's seen in his life, he turns his attention outward - anywhere that isn't two inches from his ear.

Ronon is staring at him.

"What?"

"You never would've known she spoke French without me," he says. It's not an accusation, or a subtle hint or anything like that. From Ronon, it's a simple statement of fact.

Rodney sighs. "Okay, I owe you a week of pudding cups too." Ronon keeps staring. "Fine, two weeks! But no more, if I keep giving them away I won't get to have one before we leave for Pegasus."

"Pegasus?" Megumi says excitedly. "Un cheval ailé? Pour moi? Gyabo!" She starts complaining that she'd never thought to take horse-riding lessons, and Rodney winces. Him and his big mouth. _Again._

**Author's Note:**

> Language notes: I've translated Nodame's name for McKay from ATA+, "funny wizard", as henna madoushi/sorcier bizarre, both of which are more "funny as weird" than "funny as ha-ha", since that was easier to find a translation for. (And it _is_ probably the word a sleepy Nodame would use, tbh.)
> 
> The rest you can mostly figure out from context, I think - Nodame wants the funny wizard to tell her what that thing does, Ronon tells her that neither Rodney nor anyone else knows, she is amazed by how tall he is, he is in fact tall, and at the end she thinks the mention of Pegasus means her wizard's gonna give her a flying horse to ride, as part of the Magical Girl shtick she still thinks is happening.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [NDAs [Podfic]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7967692) by [blackglass](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackglass/pseuds/blackglass)




End file.
